Experts slam Coca-Cola's obesity 'weight-wash'

By Rachel wells

July 24, 2013 — 2.43pm

Public health experts have labelled Coca-Cola's new campaign to help combat obesity a "smokescreen".

In a series of advertisements which aired on TV on Tuesday night and appeared in major national newspapers on Wednesday morning, the soft drink giant has vowed to help fight obesity in Australia by increasing the availability of smaller portion sizes, offering more low-kilojoule products and supporting physical activity programs.

Coca-Cola Australia's customer and commercial director, Phil Roberts said the company was "committed to being part of the solution" to Australia's obesity problem.

However, Rob Moodie, professor of public health at the University of Melbourne, says if Coca-Cola was serious about fighting obesity, "they would be doing things that really do work."

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"They would be restricting advertising to young children and they'd be encouraging other companies to do the same, and they wouldn't put 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of Coke," Professor Moodie says.

Coca-Cola's key initiatives include increasing the availability of its smaller 250ml cans which it claims are currently available in 80 per cent of all supermarkets and to "continue to develop low-kilojoule alternatives." It says 25 per cent of its product portfolio in Australia is currently made up of low and no-kilojoule products.

Other initiatives include placing kilojoule information on its vending machines in addition to its products, and teaming up with the not-for-profit Bicycle Network to increase "access to bikes and motivating participants to get riding."

"This is a classic smokescreen," Professor Moodie says. "We know that obesity is a commercial success and Coca-Cola has been a huge participant and beneficiary of that commercial success...Their job is not health. It's making money."

"While it is good that they are offering more lower kilojoule options and smaller portion sizes, will they be selling any fewer high sugar drinks?"

Jane Martin from the Obesity Policy Coalition agrees.

"We call it 'weight washing'. And it's a bit of a worry when you see these large corporations get involved in public health," she says. "They're not public health experts. They're in the business of making money and selling product."

"They always focus on physical activity to draw attention away from the contribution of their products to overweight and obesity. What we'd really like to see is Coca Cola selling less sugary drinks, getting them out of schools and sports centres... and we'd like to see them not marketing to teenagers."

"I know there is going to be a lot of scepticism if I'm really honest, but I think we would invite people to judge us on our actions. We're being really transparent today and saying these are our full commitments but let's have a conversation in six month's time and judge us against the actions that we've taken," she said.

"The reality is for our business, it's something we've probably been doing things in the background... I guess what's different today is we're going out and talking about it because we think we can be part of the solution."